Trash Rake Attachment for Front End Loaders

ABSTRACT

A tractor having a front end loader has a bucket with tines attached to the underside of the bucket. The front end loader is used to raise/lower and tilt the bucket in a conventional fashion in order to position the tines where they can gather trash by driving the tractor forwardly towards the trash. The trash can be picked up by first tipping the front end of the bucket up, which tips the bottom of the tines up as well. Secondly, the bucket, tines and trash can then be lifted using the front end loader. Thirdly, the tractor can then be driven to a place where the trash is to be dumped and fourthly, the bucket can be tipped so the front end of the bucket and thereby the bottom of the tines are tipped backwardly and upwardly to cause the trash to fall out of the tines.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates generally to devices for collecting trash andmore particularly to one that can be used in combination with a tractorwith a front end loader.

BACKGROUND

Front end loaders on tractors are useful for many well know purposes.However, when trying to gather up branches from trees that are on theground from storms, or gathering debris, such as building parts, fromtornados or strong winds, front end loaders are difficult to use becausethe trash/limbs tend to fall out of the bucket portion of such front endloader. So only very small loads of trash are able to be moved using aconventional front end loader for limbs and trash produced from stormsor the like.

Teeth attached to the bucket portion of a front end loader to overcomethe aforementioned problem are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,425,189 toAnderson et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 8,069,591 to Dunn, for example, whichare incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. The Anderson etal. device has teeth on the top of the bucket of a front end loaderwhich does not adequately solve the aforementioned problem. The Dunndevice has an extra set of moveable teeth like a grapple which makes itmore expensive to manufacture and more complicated to use.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,990,758 to Holmes et al., which is also incorporatedherein by reference in its entirety, shows teeth attached to the bottomof an excavator bucket for a similar purpose. But having the teeth onthe bottom of an excavator bucket requires movement of the excavatorbucket using articulated arms which make the process slow.

Accordingly, an attachment to a bucket of a front end loader which isinexpensive to make and easy to use is needed for efficiently gatheringtrash.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above needs are at least partially met through provision of themethod and apparatus described in the following detailed description,particularly when studied in conjunction with the drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a bucket portion of a front end loaderhaving a rake tine apparatus attached to the bottom of the bucket;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of a preferred embodiment of the baleprocessor of the present invention shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of the present invention showing autility tractor with a front end loader having the tine apparatusattached thereto and shown with the tractor moving forwardly gatheringup trash in the tine apparatus;

FIG. 4 is a is a side elevational view of the present invention like inFIG. 3, but showing the bucket of the front end loader being elevatedand tipped rearwardly by hydraulic cylinders attached to the tractor tocause the trash in the tine apparatus to be held in a position so thetractor can be driven to a place where the trash is to be dumped withoutthe trash falling out of the tine apparatus;

FIG. 5 is a side elevational view of the present invention like in FIG.4, but showing the tractor being stopped at the place where trash is tobe dumped onto the ground and with the front end loader being loweredand the bucket tipped forwardly so that the trash falls out of the tineapparatus onto the ground; and

FIG. 6 is a side elevational view of the present invention like in FIG.4, but showing the tractor being stopped at the place where trash is tobe dumped onto a trailer and with the front end loader being still in araised position but with the bucket tipped forwardly so that the trashfalls out of the tine apparatus onto the bed of a trailer.

Elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity andhave not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensionsand/or relative positioning of some of the elements in the figures maybe exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improveunderstanding of various embodiments of the present invention. Also,common but well-understood elements that are useful or necessary in acommercially feasible embodiment are often not depicted in order tofacilitate a less obstructed view of these various embodiments of thepresent invention. Certain actions and/or steps may be described ordepicted in a particular order of occurrence while those skilled in theart will understand that such specificity with respect to sequence isnot actually required. The terms and expressions used herein have theordinary technical meaning as is accorded to such terms and expressionsby persons skilled in the technical field as set forth above exceptwhere different specific meanings have otherwise been set forth herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring now to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals indicateidentical or similar parts throughout the several views, FIGS. 1-6 showa trash gathering and moving apparatus 10 constructed in accordance witha preferred embodiment of the invention.

The trash rake apparatus 10 includes a tractor 11 having a front endloader apparatus 12 attached thereto. The front end loader 12 shown inFIGS. 1-6 includes a bucket 13 pivotally attached at pivot 14 a to anarm 14, which is in turn pivotally attached at pivot 14 b to another arm16 which is pivotally attached to the tractor 11 at member 11 a, whichis rigidly attached to the tractor 11 frame.

A first hydraulic cylinder 15 is pivotally attached at one end at pivot15 a to the top of the bucket 13 and at the other end at pivot 15 bthereof to the arm 16. The arm 16 is pivotally attached to member 11 aat pivot 16 a. A second hydraulic cylinder 17 is pivotally attached atpivot 17 a at one end to the arm 16 and at pivot 17 b/14 b, the otherend thereof being pivotally attached to the tractor 11 at pivot 17 a.This can be a typical arrangement for attachment of front end loaders totractors but it will be understood to those skilled in this art thatother attachments of front end loaders to tractors are possible andthose other arrangements are intended to be covered within the scope ofthe appended claims.

A tine apparatus 20 is attached to the bottom of the bucket 13 as shownin FIGS. 1-6. FIGS. 1 and 2 show that each tine is attached at the topthereof to a bracket 22 that is rigidly bolted to the bottom of thebucket 3 by nut and bolt fasteners, though the bracket 22 could befastened in other ways to the bucket 13 or the tines 21 could beattached in other ways to the bottom of the bucket 13. The tines 21 arepreferably made of spring steel so they will bend rearwardly when thetractor 11 is moving forward and the bottom tips of the tines 21 arescraping along the ground as shown in FIG. 3, but the tines 21 willreturn to their original shape shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 5 once suchforces are no longer present on the tines 21.

In operation, the apparatus 10 shown in FIG. 3 shows the tractor movingforwardly gathering up trash 18 on the ground in the tine apparatus asthe tines 21 scrape along the top of the ground. Once the trash 18 hasbeen gathered into the tine apparatus 20, the front end loader 12 israised using hydraulic cylinder 17 to the FIG. 4 position and the bucket13 is tipped rearwardly using hydraulic cylinder 15 to cause the trashin the tine apparatus to be held in a position so the tractor 11 can bedriven to a place where the trash 18 is to be dumped without the trash18 falling out of the tine apparatus 20.

Then the tractor 11 can be driven to a place where the trash 18 is to bedumped onto the ground as is shown in FIG. 5 whereupon the trash 18 isdumped onto the ground and with the front end loader being lowered usingthe hydraulic cylinder 16 and the bucket tipped forwardly using thehydraulic cylinder 15 so that the trash falls out of the tine apparatus20 onto the ground. Alternatively, the tractor 11 could be driven to atrailer 19 as shown in FIG. 6, or to a truck bed, not shown, the tractorbeing stopped at the place where trash is to be dumped onto the trailer19, with the front end loader 12 being still in a raised position butwith the bucket 13 tipped forwardly so that the trash 18 falls out ofthe tine apparatus 20 onto the bed of a trailer 19.

It is noted that the rake attachment 20 is wider by the distance “x”than the bucket 13 as shown in the preferred embodiment of FIG. 1, butthat it could be the same width as the bucket 13 or narrower than thebucket 13 if desired.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that a wide variety ofmodifications, alterations, and combinations can be made with respect tothe above described embodiments without departing from the spirit andscope of the invention, and that such modifications, alterations, andcombinations are to be viewed as being within the ambit of the inventiveconcept as expressed by the attached claims.

1. A trash collection apparatus comprising: a tractor having a frame; afront end loader operatively attached to the frame and having a bucket;the bucket having a raised position, a lowered position and elevationalpositions between the raised and lowered positions; the bucket beingoperatively pivotally attached to the frame at a lower rear portion ofthe bucket and having a substantially flat bottom disposed generally ina first plane, the bottom having a top side, a bottom side, a front edgeand a rear portion, the bucket having a first position wherein thebottom is substantially horizontal, a second position wherein the bottomis pivoted in one direction from horizontal wherein the front edge issubstantially above the rear portion thereof for causing any material onthe bottom to move rearwardly by gravity when in the bucket and a thirdposition wherein the bottom is pivoted in another direction fromhorizontal wherein the front edge of the bottom is substantially belowthe rear portion thereof whereby any material in the bucket is caused tobe dumped out the front of the bucket by gravity; and a plurality ofspaced apart tines, a top of each tine being operatively attached to thebottom of the bucket, the tines each having a free end at an endopposite to the top end thereof, a substantial portion of each tinebeing disposed in a respective plane which is substantiallyperpendicular to the first plane of the bottom of the bucket.
 2. Thetrash collection apparatus of claim 1 wherein the tines aresubstantially equidistantly spaced apart.
 3. The trash collectionapparatus of claim 1 wherein the tines are made of spring steel wherebythey will bend due to forces thereon but will return to their originalshape after such forces are removed.
 4. The trash collection apparatusof claim 1 wherein the tines extend laterally wider than the width ofthe bottom of the bucket.
 5. A method of using a trash collectionapparatus comprising a tractor having a frame; a front end loaderoperatively attached to the frame and having a bucket; the bucket havinga raised position, a lowered position and elevational positions betweenthe raised and lowered positions; the bucket being operatively pivotallyattached to the frame at a lower rear portion of the bucket and having asubstantially flat bottom disposed generally in a first plane, thebottom having a top side, a bottom side, a front edge and a rearportion, the bucket having a first position wherein the bottom issubstantially horizontal, a second position wherein the bottom ispivoted in one direction from horizontal wherein the front edge issubstantially above the rear portion thereof for causing any material onthe bottom to move rearwardly by gravity when in the bucket and a thirdposition wherein the bottom is pivoted in another direction fromhorizontal wherein the front edge of the bottom is substantially belowthe rear portion thereof whereby any material in the bucket is caused tobe dumped out the front of the bucket by gravity; and a plurality ofspaced apart tines, a top of each tine being operatively attached to thebottom of the bucket, the tines each having a free end at an endopposite to the top end thereof, a substantial portion of each tinebeing disposed in a respective plane which is substantiallyperpendicular to the first plane of the bottom of the bucket, saidmethod comprising; a) disposing the bucket so that the bottom issubstantially horizontal; b) lowering the bucket until the tines aretouching the ground; c) driving the tractor forwardly toward and throughtrash disposed on the ground until the trash has gathered in the tinesbelow the bucket; d) tipping the bucket to the second position thereofto hold the trash from falling out of the tines; e) raising the bucket;f) driving the tractor to a place where the trash is to be dumped; andg) tipping the bucket to the third position thereof to dump the trash.6. The method of using a trash collection apparatus of claim 5 whereinthe bucket is disposed over a place on the ground where the trash isdesired to be dumped.
 7. The method of using a trash collectionapparatus of claim 4 wherein the bucket is disposed over a moveable bedof a trailer or truck where the trash is desired to be dumped so it canbe hauled to a place for disposal or further transfer or processing.